First Data Releases October 2013 SpendTrend® Analysis

October Consumer Spending Growth up from September

ATLANTA,  Nov. 18, 2013 – First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today released its First Data SpendTrend® analysis for Oct.1, 2013 through Oct. 30, 2013 compared to Oct.2, 2012 through Oct.31, 2012.  SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.

Dollar volume growth in October was 6.8%, a healthy uptick from last month’s growth of 5.3% despite the political strife in Washington. The growth was supported by the onset of cooler temperatures, which drove sales of seasonal merchandise and early holiday advertising attracting shopper foot-traffic. The year-over-year gas price discount continued to widen. This negatively impacted overall spending growth. Gas Station dollar volume growth was -4.9% in October, the lowest growth seen since April 2013. However, strong growth in categories such as Food Services & Drinking places and Leisure, which saw growth of 7.8% and 9.9% helped offset some of that negative growth.

Retail dollar volume growth in October jumped to 5.6% compared to September’s 3.6% growth. Retail spending growth accelerated toward the end of the month as the government shutdown ended and shoppers regained confidence. All retail sub-categories saw positive year-over-year dollar volume growth.

Average ticket growth was 0.5% in October, up from September’s growth of -0.2%. The slowdown in Gas Station average tickets continued to offset the overall growth. Gas Station average ticket growth of -7.9% marked a twelve-month low. However, retail average ticket growth jumped to 1.8% from last month’s growth of 0.8% as discounting activity by retailers eased. Retailers focused on profits in October, as this period is an opportunity to plump up profits between the back-to-school and holiday seasons; periods where retailers may be forced to cut prices to win customers.

“Consumer spending growth gained momentum in October, which should provide retailers with an optimistic outlook heading into the holiday season”, said Krish Mantripragada, SVP, Information and Analytics Solutions, First Data. “Retailers should expect holiday spending to be modestly stronger compared to last year barring any number of external events that could negatively impact sales such as poor weather or geopolitical events at home or abroad.”


October Dollar Volume Growth CHANGE
Credit +7.7%
Signature Debit +6.0%
PIN Debit +6.2%
Check -4.8%
Prepaid +3.8%
Note: All transactions are same-store growth.

To view infographics showing October SpendTrend data, click here

For more information on First Data SpendTrend, visit www.spendtrend.com or call SpendTrend Customer Care at 800-430-0169.

To participate in the SpendTrend conversation, please follow First Data at http://twitter.com/spendtrend.

Around the world, every second of every day, First Data makes payment transactions secure, fast and easy for merchants, financial institutions and their customers. First Data leverages its vast product portfolio and expertise to drive client revenue and profitability. Whether the choice of payment is by debit or credit card, gift card, check or mobile phone, online or at the checkout counter, First Data takes every opportunity to go beyond the transaction. More information about the company is available on FirstData.com as well as on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

Media Contact
Cara Crifasi, First Data
303-967-6367
cara.crifasi@firstdata.com

First Data SpendTrend, a macro-economic indicator, is based on aggregate same-store sales activity in the First Data Point of Sale Network. First Data SpendTrend does not represent First Data’s financial performance.

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CoreCard Software Managing Director, J. Leland Strange, to Moderate Prepaid Card Expo 2009 Panel:

Cost Cutting Via Prepaid Cards Panel Discussion to Include Executives from MasterCard Worldwide, First Data and Skylight Financial

Orlando, FL - March 3, 2009-- CoreCard Software (http://www.corecard.com), a leading provider of prepaid and credit card processing licensed software, announced that Managing Director, J. Leland Strange, will act as moderator for the “Cost Cutting via Prepaid Cards” panel at the Prepaid Card Expo 2009 in Orlando, FL. The panel will be held on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 11:35 am.

Strange intends on engaging “Cost Cutting via Prepaid Cards” panelists in discussions on how prepaid cards play a role in the unbanked population of America, trends in electronic payroll administration, paperless payroll offerings and available options, benefits to companies offering prepaid cards and key metrics from case studies. Panelist will include Elisa Corridore, Vice President of Global Product Development, MasterCard Worldwide (http://www.mastercard.com/) ; Kevin Lee, CEO, Skylight Financial (http://www.skylight.net/) ; and Rich Jackman, Senior Vice President, First Data (http://www.blogger.com/www.FirstData.com).

“In today’s economy, employers are increasingly seeking to reduce expenses,” said Strange. “Prepaid processors and program managers have seen great benefits from paperless pay and reduction in administrative cost and I look forward to discussing trends and advantages with the panel.”


About CoreCard Software, Inc.

CoreCard (http://www.corecard.com/) licenses transaction processing and account management software and is a custom processor. Combining unparalleled industry experience with end-to-end software capabilities across the payment industry, CoreCard's products provide next-generation software solutions from merchant acquiring (CoreACQUIRE™), card issuance and account management (CoreISSUE™), disputes management (CoreDISPUTE™) and collections management (CoreCOLLECT™). Corecard's solutions provide easy to use parameter-driven controls, real-time transaction processing, built-in fault-tolerance, and a fully scalable architecture. CoreCard's software provides the market's most feature-rich platform for processing and managing prepaid/stored-value cards, fleet cards, credit cards, debit cards, commercial cards, and private-label cards. Headquartered in Norcross, GA, CoreCard is a subsidiary of Intelligent Systems Corporation [NYSE Alternext US: INS]. For more information, call 770-564-8000 or visit http://www.corecard.com/.

About Prepaid Card Expo 2009

Founded in 2006, the Prepaid Card Expo has quickly established itself as the world’s largest gathering of prepaid, stored value and emerging payments professionals. Prepaid Card Expo offers unparalleled opportunities to learn, buy and sell and interact with over 2,500 of industry professionals and counterparts across a variety of vertical market segments. The 2009 Prepaid Card Expo will be held in Orlando, FL from March 9 to March 11.

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Entertainment and Dining Prepaid cards most popular for work rewards

In a recent article at Manage Smarter, they look at how businesses are rewarding their employees by giving them gift cards, and most popular are dining gift cards. Entertainment gift cards came in fourth. They're a popular gift solution because it isn't something the employee would normally buy for themselves and they're able to include their family in the reward.

Some prepaid card companies have seen the demand for dinner and a movie or coffee and download cards increase.

Prepaid solutions companies like First Data can even arrange to combine the dining and entertainment on the same card. First Data's Landsverk has seen not only seen dinner-and-a-movie cards being embraced, but also coffee-and-a-download cards more recently.

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New German system allows for instant credit cards

First Data with PLUS Finanz Service has started a new program where customers can apply and instantly receive a credit card. This new program, which is available in Germany, has four participating electronic retailers who can use self-service terminals to enter their application data, their credit is assessed immediately and a credit limit is assigned to each card. Cards are then embossed and presented to consumers on site. There are plans to extend this program to 80 hypermarket locations who will also have the opportunity to co-brand the card. Read more here.

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FirstData Corporation acquires InComm

First Data Corporation, a world leader for payment processing services and electronic commerce has announced in this press release that they are acquiring InComm. InComm is known for its industry leadership in marketing, distributing and technology innovation in the store and prepaid card industry.

InComm, in 2007, had over $300 million of net revenue and $8 billion of retail sales transactions. The goal of this acquisition is for First Data Corporation to be able to offer end to end prepaid solutions for retailers and customers throughout the world.

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